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Mr. Burton. Dr. Megson.
    Dr. Megson. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, my name 
is Mary Megson. I am a board-certified pediatrician, 
fellowship-trained in child development, a member of the 
American Academy of Pediatrics and on the clinical faculty at 
the Medical College of Virginia.
    I have practiced pediatrics for 22 years, and the last 15 
years, I have worked only with children with developmental 
disabilities, which include learning disabilities, attention 
deficit hyperactivity disorder, mental retardation, cerebral 
palsy, and autism.
    In 1978, as a resident at Boston Floating Hospital, I 
learned that the incidence of autism was 1 in 10,000 children. 
Recent surveys have suggested an incidence in several parts of 
the country of between 1 in 300 and 1 in 600 children.
    Over the last 9 months, I have charts now in an office that 
I opened last June on 1,900 patients, well over 1,200 of whom 
have fullblown criteria for autism. I have 70 autistic children 
in a clinical trial and I am beginning a second clinical trial 
to look at treatment on these children.
    At the same time, the State Department of Education says 
there are only 1,522 children with the diagnosis of autism in 
the State of Virginia.
    Mental health and mental retardation agencies have 
scrambled to set up infant intervention programs and have had a 
hard time keeping up with the numbers of delayed infants and 
toddlers. I have served as an advisor for the city of Richmond 
and the surrounding counties as they set up these infant 
programs and also set up special education programs for 
children with autism. Now there are autistic classes in each 
county and several classes in several schools. There has been a 
very rapid rise over the last several years, The segment of 
children with ``regressive autism''--who develop normally and 
then regress usually between 18 and 24 months--has increased 
dramatically. This past week, I was involved in four cases of 
children who were perfectly normal in their development until 
they had their school-age shots at age 5--DPT, hepatitis 
vaccine, MMR. Within weeks, they were autistic. In the past, 
this was unheard of.
    In the vast majority of cases, I have discovered that one 
parent or another reports night blindness or other rare 
disorders associated with a defect in something called a G 
protein. G proteins are proteins inside the cell that join 
receptors that sit in the cell membrane. They are cellular 
proteins that upgrade or downgrade signals in their sensory 
systems all over the body that regulate touch, taste, smell, 
hearing, and vision. They are important also in turning on or 
off multiple metabolic pathways, including those for glucose, 
lipid, protein metabolism. They also turn on and off pathways 
for cell growth differentiation and survival.
    Close to the age of autistic regression, we are adding a 
second defect to the G protein--namely, pertussis toxin--which 
completely disrupts these G protein pathways. The opposite G 
protein pathways are on without the off switch.
    In my research, I have discovered that some children are 
protected if they have the lipid-soluble form of Vitamin A, 
that's found in natural sources. Those children, especially 
those who are breast-fed--get the early vaccines in spite of 
having the genetic defect and do fine. However, the measles/
mumps/rubella vaccine at 15 months of age depletes the body of 
all Vitamin A. When they get the DPT the same day or several 
months later, many of these children disconnect.
    There are several metabolic problems that I am seeing 
repeatedly in these children. The pathway to break down the 
storage form of glucose in the body is on without opposition. 
These children have elevated blood sugars. In the past week, I 
have been made aware of four cases of autistic children who 
developed juvenile onset diabetes. There is a 68 percent 
incidence of diabetes in the parents or grandparents.
    Lipid breakdown is turned on without opposition. I have 
diagnosed many 2\1/2\-year-old children with autism who have 
serum cholesterol of 240 and above. There is an incidence in 
one of three of these families of heart attack of a parent or 
grandparent under age 55 and diagnosed with hyperlipidemia.
    Of great concern, cell growth, differentiation, and 
survival is turned on, which leads to uncontrolled cell growth. 
In the first 60 families I examined, there were 62 cases of 
malignancies associated with the RAS oncogene.
    I have also discovered that the measles antibody that the 
body makes, once they are exposed to the measles vaccine, 
cross-reacts with intermediate filaments. Intermediate 
filaments are the glue that hold the cells that line the gut 
wall together, so when they get that MMR vaccine, they develop 
a leaky gut. Intermediate filaments are also important in areas 
of high stress. One of the areas of highest stress in the human 
body is the upper small intestine right below the stomach. They 
develop a chronic autoimmune disorder at that point.
    The loss of the cell-to-cell connection also occurs in the 
blood-brain barrier and in the cells that surround the bite 
annicul: where toxins are excreted from the body. So any toxins 
that they are exposed to, leak through the gut wall, and they 
cannot pump them out of the body.
    The loss of cell-to-cell connection interrupts another 
process in the body which is very important called aproptosis, 
or the ability of neighborhooding cells to get rid of abnormal 
cells. The MMR vaccine at 15 months precedes the DPT vaccine, 
which turns on uncontrolled cell growth differentiation and 
survival.
    Most families have reported cancers in parents or 
grandparents. The genetic defect found in 30 to 50 percent of 
adult cancers is a cancer gene, the RAS oncogene. This is the 
same defect that is the defect for congenital stationary night 
blindness.
    In Harrison's Textbook of Internal Medicine, which is the 
standard textbook in medical schools all across this country, 
it is stated that it is absolutely contraindicated to give the 
MMR vaccine or a measles vaccine in the face of Vitamin A 
deficiency. I am afraid that some of these children are facing 
that vaccine when they are already deficient in their Vitamin A 
stores, and then they cannot reconnect pathways.
    Most of us in our current diets have the lipid-soluble form 
of Vitamin A taken out. This lipid-soluble form is found in 
liver, kidney, milk fat and cod liver oil. In lowfat milk 
products, however, it is taken out, and another, water-soluble 
form is added which they are unable to absorb.
    Mr. Burton. Pardon me, Dr. Megson.
    You heard all those buzzers. That means that I have to run 
to the floor and vote or else I will be voted out of office, 
which I do not want to happen.
    Dr. Megson. OK.
    Mr. Burton. So if you will please bear with me, I will get 
over there and vote and get back just as quickly as I possibly 
can, because I am very interested in everything that you folks 
are saying, and I do want to get answers to a number of 
questions.
    We have two votes, and I will be back just as quickly as 
possible, so we will stand in recess--there are how many 
votes--I think everybody had better get a cup of coffee, 
because there are four votes. It is probably going to be half 
an hour before I get back. I apologize.
    We stand in recess.
    [Recess.]
    Mr. Burton. I really want to apologize to those of you who 
have been so patient today hearing all the debate. It must have 
been difficult for you, but I am sure it has also been 
entertaining.
    Would you close the doors in the back after everyone comes 
in?
    OK. We left off with Dr. Megson in a very impassioned 
moment of her talk.
    Dr. Megson. Briefly, I was saying that in the vast majority 
of these children, I get a history from one parent or another 
of a disorder associated with a defect in these major 
signalling proteins, the G proteins.
    As I approached my research, I looked through the eyes of 
these children and tried to figure out what their world was 
like. Now that I have talked with them and know what questions 
to ask these children, I understand how these G protein defects 
affect their perception.
    They have a severe loss of rod function in their eyes. 
There are four beautiful studies that have been published and 
out there for several years that show this. They are then left 
with cone function in which to see their world. Cones give us 
color and shape in our environment. The only situations I could 
imagine having only color and shape to organize my world are 
those ``magic eye puzzles,'' where you look beyond and back up, 
and then you get a box of 3D. That is the only place in their 
visual field where they get a 3D impression of objects.
    Mr. Burton. Everything else is flat?
    Dr. Megson. Correct.
    Only then, when they look at a box, like television or a 
computer, or a therapist who is sitting right in front of them, 
do they consistently hear the right words for what they are 
looking at. So that most of the day, they are not hearing the 
right words for what they are looking at, because they only 
have one area of their visual field where they see 3D.
    I have treated some adults, and one adult I am treating in 
Alabama calls me every week and gives me the measurement of his 
``box'' as it grows, and he gets better, which is really fun.
    The other areas of perception and sensory perception are 
controlled by G protein pathways as well, and adding a second 
defect to these children, who on a genetic basis probably have 
a first defect, changes multiple sensations. Their avoidance of 
eye contact is an attempt to have light land off-center in the 
retina, where they have some rod function. So when they look 
away from Mom, they are actually looking at Mom. When we make 
them force their pupils directly in front of us, we are making 
them look away from us. With this form of natural Vitamin A 
treatment, within days, they look right at you.
    The other things that happen in these children--suddenly, 
Mom's touch starts to feel like sandpaper on their skin because 
of modulation of touch; common sounds sound like nails scraped 
on a blackboard. These are words that autistic children have 
given me as they have gotten better.
    We think these children cannot abstract, when actually, we 
are sinking them into the middle of an abstract painting at 18 
months of age, and they are left trying to figure out if the 
language they are hearing is connected to what they are looking 
at at the same time.
    This defect for congenital stationary night blindness is on 
the short arm of the X chromosome, which explains the male-to-
female ratio autism, and it affects cell membrane calcium 
channels that Dr. Goldberg just referred to in the hippocampus. 
These are the NMDA/glutamate receptors in the hippocampus. 
These pathways are where major pathways processing language 
cross from the left side of the brain to the right. The 
pathways then go back through the hippocampus. The frontal lobe 
is where attention is added, executive function, inhibition of 
impulse, and all social judgment.
    When stimulated, these NMDA receptors through their G 
proteins stimulate other receptors in the nucleus of the cell, 
right there at the hippocampus. These receptors were discovered 
by Ron Evans in December 1998. In the animal model, when they 
are blocked, the mice are unable to learn or to remember 
changes in their environment; they act like they have 
significant visual perceptual problems, and they have 
significant spatial learning deficits.
    Of great concern to me is that when the hepatitis B virus 
was initially isolated, the protein sequences were isolated and 
inserted into the gene for one of these Vitamin A receptors, 
RAR beta. This is the critical receptor important for 
plasticity and retinoid signaling in the hippocampus in this 
area of major pathway intersection. We will have to look at the 
vaccine and see if there is any defect being produced by that 
related to the recent increase in autistic spectrum disorders.
    What I am treating these children with is the natural, 
lipid-soluble form of Vitamin A. I am giving them their 
recommended daily allowance only of Vitamin A in the form of 
cod liver oil to bypass these blocked G protein pathways and 
turn on these central retinoid receptors.
    In a few days, a lot of these children look at me, focus, 
they regain eye contact, and they talk about their box of 
vision growing. After 2 months on this Vitamin A treatment, I 
give them a single dose of a medicine called bethanechol, which 
stimulates pathways in the parasympathetic system in the gut. 
What I have discovered is that there are nerve receptors in the 
gut called acetylcholine receptors, or muscarinic receptors 
which are blocked in these children. This medication mimics 
acetylcholine. It does not cross the blood-brain barrier. I 
give it to these children in the office, and sometimes, 30 to 
40 minutes after the initial dose, after having pathways 
corrected for several months of Vitamin A, when I bring them in 
and give them this medicine and observe them, they connect in 
the office. I have had children look at me, talk, act out, talk 
back to their mothers, and use vocabulary above their 
chronological age. This is a disconnect, and I have seen this 
again and again and again. Bill Walsh in Chicago has seen it; 
Woody McAinnis in Arizona has seen this change.
    In one child I have treated beginning last April, her IQ 
score has gone up 105 points, from 60 to 165.
    This treatment improves cognition, but these children are 
still really physically ill. Their Vitamin A stores are 
depleted, oftentimes before and if not before, at the time of 
the MMR vaccine, and they cannot compensate for these blocked 
pathways.
    Vitamin A has been called the anti-infective agent. It 
leaves them immunosuppressed when they are depleted. They lack 
cell-mediated immunity. Adding a second defect to this GI alpha 
protein blocks a very important pathway in the body where you 
convert retinol into something called 14-hydroxy retro-retinol. 
14-HRR is needed to turn on T-cells.
    I give these children cod liver oil--cold water fish oil is 
the only natural source of 14-HRR--and the children get well.
    The parasympathetic nervous system which is blocked in the 
gut is part of what I call the peripheral nervous system. We 
think of the nervous system as having two major parts. The 
central nervous system is the brain and spinal cord. The 
peripheral system is divided into two parts. The sympathetic 
nervous system is your fight-or-flight response--everything 
that happens to your body when you run away from danger--you 
dilate your pupils, increase your heart rate, and increase your 
blood pressure. The parasympathetic side of the peripheral 
nervous system allows us to sit back, relax, focus, and digest 
our food. We are blocking the parasympathetic side of the 
nervous system, and these children are in fright or flight all 
the time.
    I have asked someone to bring these panels out so you can 
look at these children and see their faces.
    I live in a small middle-class neighborhood with 23 houses. 
I recently counted 30 children who were on stimulants for 
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. One week ago, my 
oldest son, who is gifted but dyslexic, had 12 neighborhood 
friends over for dinner. As I looked around the table, all of 
these children but one had dilated pupils. After 2\1/2\ months 
of taking his recommended daily allowance of Vitamin A and D in 
cod liver oil, my son announced: ``I can read now. The letters 
do not jump around the page anymore.'' He can focus, and his 
handwriting has improved dramatically.
    In a survey in his private high school for dyslexic 
students who are bright enough to go to college, 68 out of 70 
of those children reported night blindness. They see headlights 
like starbursts, and they get a whiteout when their picture is 
taken.
    I think we are staring a national disaster in the face 
which is affecting thousands of American children. The children 
with autism, ADD, dyslexia are lucky in a way, because they are 
identified. There are many other children out there who are not 
identified and who have just been disconnected.
    We must direct all of our resources and efforts to 
establish multidisciplinary centers to treat these children. 
Insurance companies should pay for evaluations, both medical 
and psychiatric, and treatment.
    For over a year, I have been paying for speech therapy for 
these children. They are able to talk, but they do not know 
what to do with their mouths. I have had 10-year-olds wake up 
and talk. Insurance companies do not pay for rehabilitative 
services for these children. These children are physically ill, 
immunosuppressed, have a chronic autoimmune disorder affecting 
multiple organ systems. We must get funding to look at the 
etiology of autism and identify these children prior to 
autistic regression and prevent this disorder. Implementing 
vaccine policies which are safe for all children should be our 
first priority.
    Mothers from all over the country have brought pictures of 
their autistic children to Washington this weekend. Most of 
these children were born normal and lost to ``autistic 
regression.'' Look into their eyes, and you will hear their 
silence.
    Mr. Burton. Thank you very much. We are going to read the 
text of your comments very thoroughly.
    Dr. Megson. Thanks.

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Note/Warning:

Autistic people have fought the inclusion of ABA in therapy for us since before Autism Speaks, and other non-Autistic-led autism organizations, started lobbying legislation to get it covered by insurances and Medicaid. 

ABA is a myth originally sold to parents that it would keep their Autistic child out of an institution. Today, parents are told that with early intervention therapy their child will either be less Autistic or no longer Autistic by elementary school, and can be mainstreamed in typical education classes. ABA is very expensive to pay out of pocket. Essentially, Autism Speaks has justified the big price tag up front will offset the overall burden on resources for an Autistic’s lifetime. The recommendation for this therapy is 40 hours a week for children and toddlers.

The original study that showed the success rate of ABA to be at 50% has never been replicated. In fact, the study of ABA by United States Department of Defense was denounced as a failure. Not just once, but multiple times. Simply stated: ABA doesn’t work. In study after repeated study: ABA (conversion therapy) doesn’t work. 

What more recent studies do show: Autistics who experienced ABA therapy are at high risk to develop PTSD and other lifelong trauma-related conditions. Historically, the autism organizations promoting ABA as a cure or solution have silenced Autistic advocates’ opposition. ABA is also known as gay conversion therapy.

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[Note: Autism is NOT a disease, but a neurodevelopmental difference and disability.]

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Fact: Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism.

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